


Not Alone Anymore

by HalRose



Series: The Shakarian Project [8]
Category: Mass Effect - All Media Types, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Coffee, Dreams, Dreams and Nightmares, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Love, POV Garrus Vakarian, Paragon Shepard (Mass Effect), Shakarian - Freeform, Sleep Deprivation, all the coffee, shepard needs sleep
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26125501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HalRose/pseuds/HalRose
Summary: “Were you ever going to tell me?”- Set during Mass Effect 3, Garrus and Shepard discuss her nightmares.
Relationships: Female Shepard/Garrus Vakarian
Series: The Shakarian Project [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1876087
Kudos: 14





	Not Alone Anymore

**Author's Note:**

> Im sorry that the quality has declined, I just got back off a really bad break and needed to write something. I apologise in advance. Also, Shepard needs sleep

**Garrus**

You’d never seen somebody in need of more of a break, she’d been working so hard; she had enough on her plate.  
She looked like she hadn’t slept in a week and yet, she still managed to smile and do her job like nothing was really wrong in the first place.

Everyone is expecting her to be the one to help us all win the war against the Reapers. They just want her to get the job done, not caring about how she is holding up,  
But she’s lucky. She has her friends… and she has me..

I don’t know what goes on in that head of hers, apart from what Athena tells me. She doesn’t keep much from me, but I can tell that is what she’s been doing.  
From what Athena has told me about her life, is that she grew up on the streets, an orphan.  
She doesn’t have any sisters or brothers, or anybody that looked out for her.. until Anderson came along and offered her a place on his ship and she worked under him.  
And the rest as they say, is history.

She’s done so much, she’s come so far. This world, this universe can be so cruel.

I just want to scoop her up and take her away from all of this and live a life she deserves… but we cannot leave our duty. This is where we’re meant to be.

Athena Shepard is in the briefing room of our Normandy ship, where our family works hard to support her. There are cups that were once filled with coffee all around her, whilst in the corner of the room the coffee-machine she had brought in here, begs for mercy with a shrieking noise that she is seems to be quite used to hearing.

“Honey… go to bed. You need to sleep” I say softly as I walk over to her, placing my hands on her shoulder.

“Garrus…” she whines. “I can’t. You know I can’t. We have so much work to do.”

She’s clearly fighting the urge to fall asleep, and I can tell something is on her mind.

“Do we need to have another serious talk?” I ask her.

She looks up at me and I can see she’s close to tears. I know that look. She’s been having nightmares again.  
It’s why she struggles to sleep.

I sit next to her in a extra chair she’s brought in here and she sighs.

“I’ve been having dreams again. I thought they would go away, but they haven’t. And at first the dreams were of, y’know… me suffocating in space, but then they changed.” She explains

I’ve told her before how I feel bad that I wasn’t there for her during that time and she knows I’ve had dreams where I see her struggling to breathe, and I can do nothing.  
All my dreams have been of various times we’ve been together, happy… only to have the happiness snatched away.

“What to?” I ask, taking her hand.

“I keep having dreams where various members of the Normandy get slaughtered by the Reapers. It started with Liara and Tali and now… the past few days all the dreams have contained you. And I don’t want to think about it as it could be a possibility, you never know with our work…” Athena explains.

“And you decided the best course of action was just to hide from everyone?” 

Athena nods and I continue asking questions, cupping her face as she puts down a data pad.

“Were you ever going to tell me?”

“I wanted to.. but I didn’t want you to worry because you’re worrying about your family.” 

I squeeze her hand.

“Don’t you know? You ARE part of my family.” I tell her. 

I’ve felt like this for a long time, and I know Shepard is the only woman for me. We’ve had similar talks like this before.  
She leans into me and I wrap my arms around her.

“Garrus.. I just wish you could see what I have to deal with. I don’t know what I’d do if you weren’t here.

Athena motions to the coffee and the data pads.

“You’re not alone anymore, Shepard. You need to remember that.” I give her a small smile “I don’t doubt you’ve seen some shit, but you have me. I’m not going anywhere. I promise.”

She kisses my cheek and I feel warm inside. I want to stay like this forever.

“If I come to your quarters with you, will you go to bed?” I ask her.

“Will the crew survive without me?” Athena asks jokingly. 

I tell her that I’ll handle everything she needs to do, whilst she sleeps. She makes it known that everyone is to answer to me whilst she’s asleep. Nobody argues.

We end up in bed together, she tests my reach and I test her flexibility… and then she falls asleep for a solid ten hours.

She wakes up, and I ask her if she had any nightmares. She said no and I believe her, but I keep an eye on her.  
The cycle repeats. Every time she has a nightmare and she forces herself to stay awake, I bring her to bed.

I don’t think the Alliance like me much. They prefer hearing from Shepard.

“They’re gonna have to get used to it.” Athena tells me, muffled as she groans into her pillow one night.

Every so often, she’ll grab my hand in her sleep and I remind her she’s not alone anymore.  
She tells me she still finds it hard to realise that, and I can understand that.

But she says waking up next to me every morning, makes life worth fighting for.

And I love her. I just don’t know how to say it sometimes. Yet she knows… she always knows that I love her.


End file.
